Seeking her party’s reelection to keep up the pace of development in the country, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday urged all, including the Ulema-Mshayekh and Awami League leaders, so that the BNP, Jamaat and Hefajat men cannot disrepute the party. “The BNP, Jamaat, Hefajat men set fire to mosques and burned down hundreds of copies of the holy Quran. Could there be any sadder thing than this? Now they are talking against AL through sending their men to mosques to bring the party into disrepute,” she said. Hasina was addressing a mammoth public rally at Pirganj Government High School ground organised by the local Awami League. The Prime Minister alleged that those BNP, Jamaat, Hefajat men are now saying that the imams and muazzins of the mosques are being killed, “But, I want to ask, the AL now is in power and azans are going on in every mosque of the country, along with tarabih and janazas.” “Despite these, if anyone tells lies in the mosque that the imams and muazzins are being killed, there are no azans in the mosques. Then could they be the believers of Islam? If so, any Muslim can never tell lies in the mosque,” she told the rally. Hasina went on: “I’ll request all, including the AL, Jubo League, BCL leaders and workers and Ulema-Mshayekh so that no one could disrepute Awami League standing in the mosques. It’s clear that those men could never be Muslims and they cannot maintain the sanctity of the holy Quran.” The Prime Minister called upon the countrymen to remain vigilant as those people are out to ‘deceive people in the name of religion.’ Mentioning that whenever AL forms government, the country’s people get something, but the rest (opposition) only enjoys power to loot people and amass wealth, the Prime Minister sought doa and votes from the local people for ‘Boat’, the election symbol of Awami league, in the next general election to maintain the pace of development in the days to come. “We’ve implemented development activities as pledged before the last election. If voted to power again, we’ll fulfill the rest of the pledges and thus build a hunger- and poverty-free Bangladesh,” she said. Turning to the unbridled corruption of the opposition in different sectors, the AL chief alleged that the opposition leader had whitened black money, her sons had siphoned off money abroad, but the present government has returned that money. “They (BNP-Jamaat) had turned Bangladesh into a country of terrorism, corruption, militancy, but we’ve erased that bad name. But it’s unfortunate that Jamaat-e-Islami is now doing politics using Islam and then came Hefajat-e-Islam,” Hasina said. The Prime Minister alleged that the opposition leader and her family members had swindled hundreds of crores of Taka from state-run Sonali Bank, Janata Bank and some other private commercial banks in the name of Khamba Limited and Dandy Dying Limited. “They (BNP) had only come to power for looting and couldn’t people anything except tall talks,” she alleged. Hasina said her government firmly wants the communal harmony to be maintained in Bangladesh and the people of all religions perform their respective religious rituals freely. Listing various development programmes implemented in Rangpur during the last four and a half years of the present government like establishing Rangpur Division, City Corporation, Rokeya University, Bridges on River Teesta and Dharla, the Prime Minister said that ‘Monga’ is not seen these days’ in the region and people can easily take their meals twice a day. “After assuming office in our previous term, we eradicated Monga from the country, but it reemerged after the BNP assumed power along with terrorism, militancy, murders, killings and bombings,” Hasina alleged. About the her government’s development activities, Hasina said that power generation has now reached 6,675 MW, some 20 lakh solar home systems have already been installed and more 30 laks are in the process and there has been a marked rise in food production. Besides, she said, her government established Union Information and Service Centers and revitalized the community healthcare services. PM’s son and eminent computer scientist Sajeeb Wazed Joy, Textiles and Jute Minister Abdul Latif Siddiqui, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, AL Organising Secretary Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury and Information and Research Secretary Advocate Afzal Hussain, Advocate Fazley Rabbi Mian, MP, Abdul Mannan, MP, Abul Kalam Azad, MP, and AL central leader Sujit Roy Nandi also spoke on the occasion. Joy’s wife Kristine Overmire, State Minister for Home Advocate Shamsul Haque and Sheikh Helal, MP, were present at the meeting chaired by Pirganj AL president Motaharul Islam Bablu. Earlier from the venue, the Prime Minister inaugurated a number of development projects, including the newly-constructed Wazed Miah Bridge over the Karatua River at Kanchdahaghat. The newly constructed 303.32-metre long and 10.25-metre wide Wajed Miah Bridge was built at a cost of Tk 21.14 crore. She also opened Pirganj Duckbungalow Bhaban, Rangpur Regional Passport Office, Officers’ Dormitory Building and the activities of Pirganj Pourasava as well as laid the foundation stones of Divisional Commissioner’s Complex Building, annex building of Rangpur Circuit House, Pirganj Upazila Complex and Marine Academy and Textiles Institute. – UNB
